University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics Linguistics 2020 An Intonational Description of African American Language in Princeville, NC Christopher M. Dale University of Kentucky, [email protected] Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0458-0949 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.379 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Dale, Christopher M., "An Intonational Description of African American Language in Princeville, NC" (2020). Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics. 38. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/ltt_etds/38 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Linguistics at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Linguistics by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Christopher M. Dale, Student Dr. Allison Burkette, Major Professor Dr. Allison Burkette, Director of Graduate Studies AN INTONATIONAL DESCRIPTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE IN PRINCEVILLE, NC THESIS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Linguistic Theory & Typology in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Christopher Dale Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Allison Burkette, Professor of Linguistics Lexington, Kentucky 2020 Copyright c Christopher Dale 2020 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0458-0949 ABSTRACT OF THESIS AN INTONATIONAL DESCRIPTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE IN PRINCEVILLE, NC This thesis uses data from the Princeville, NC section of the Corpus of Regional African American Language (CORAAL) in order to address two topics concerning language: first, what the intonation of the Princeville participants of the CORAAL looks like acoustically; and second, if intonation is the salient feature that categorizes a speaker as Black or non-Black. The acoustic analysis software, Praat (Boersma & Weenink 2019), is used to take average, minimum, and maximum f0 measurements for 16 participants (9 women and 7 men) across three age groups. From these mea- surements, the rate of change is calculated in Hz/second to determine the fluctuations in pitch within the pitch range across an utterance. Results in response to the first question suggest that female participants followed a more identifiable average f0 pat- tern than their male counterparts. Additionally, female participants tended to have higher minimum and maximum f0 measurements, as well as higher rates of change. In response to the second question, the ethicality and morality of asking certain research questions is examined. It is suggested that, rather than potentially essentializing in- dividual linguistic features which belong to a broader social system of meaning, we instead turn towards a critical examination of the field’s practices, methods, and theories, and how these in turn fit within broader systems of domination like white supremacy. KEYWORDS: language and race, African American Language, intonation, race and racialization, colonization, corpus linguistics Christopher Dale August 4, 2020 AN INTONATIONAL DESCRIPTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LANGUAGE IN PRINCEVILLE, NC By Christopher Dale Dr. Allison Burkette Director of Thesis Dr. Allison Burkette Director of Graduate Studies August 4, 2020 Date To my grandma, Louise Leavelle, who inspired in me a lifelong passion for learning, and to all Black people, may we experience the death of white supremacy in our lifetimes. Black Power. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis has been a journey of constant learning and unlearning, a reminder that comfortability in whiteness for white people is not a good place to be. It has reminded me again and again of the dedication I need to relinquish whiteness in the fight to end white supremacy. The world has changed around this thesis and the person I was when I proposed the idea of a thesis like this in the fall of 2018 is not the person that I am now, in the summer of 2020. The movement for Black Lives has once again come to the forefront of public consciousness after the senseless killing of yet more Black people by the State, who remains impugn to Justice. We now, collectively and globally, are imagining a world free from State terror, where prisons, the police, and the military apparatus are abolished. This work would be impossible without the countless Black people who have sacrificed their very lives in the pursuit of justice and freedom. But this is not all we have to be thankful for. Black people deserve to live, period. Regardless of presumed innocence or guilt, of contributions or failures. Black lives matter because Black people are people, and we, as white people and as white academics, have to do better. I am utterly and totally indebted to the culture of Black intellectuals who have helped me enormously both in my ignorance and in the task at hand. It is shameful that we live in a world where someone like me has to be taught about how anti- Blackness has been inscribed at every level of our societies, but it is even more shameful that there are people who still are not listening. I cannot begin to express the depth to which I feel gratitude for the opportunities I have had to learn from Black people of all walks of life, especially from Black women. To Dr. Fabiola Henri, who completely changed my entire outlook on the field of linguistics and gave me a much deeper understanding of the nature of colonialism. To Dr. Nicole R. Holliday iii who shared with me a passion for prosody and for linguistic justice, who has inspired me from the very first time I met her at the Linguistics Society of America annual meeting in Salt Lake City. To Dr. bell hooks, Dr. Angela Davis, and Dr. Saidiya Hartman who've opened my eyes and shifted the way I view the world around me. To Kesla Elmore and Jordan Honeyblue for always being a listening ear, collaborations, and helping me grow. To Laverne Cox and Leiomy Maldonado for teaching me who I am is ok. To Megan Thee Stallion and Chloe x Halle, for their unrelenting talent and some of the most fire albums of all time. To all Black women, thank you. To the community of amazing women who've helped me in uncountable ways, and who have shown me such love. To Dr. Fabiola Henri and Dr. Allison Burkette, thank you for showing me care when it felt like nobody else did. Thank you for pushing the limits of my thinking and making me question everything. To Dr. Jennifer Cramer, thank you for the conversations, the humor, the advice, and for agreeing to jump on to this project at the last minute. To Dr. Michal Temkin Martinez, thank you for being a constant source of encouragement and care. Thank you for your guidance and for showing me the way. To Katia Davis, thank you for being the most kick ass office manager ever. Without you, all of our schemes, plans, and half-baked ideas would have fallen by the wayside long before they came to fruition. To Kesla Elmore, Jordan Honeyblue, Lanh Nguyen, Mary Levinson, Marisa Mejia, Kierra Hansen, Jackie Phillips, Cece Staggs, Monica Larcom, Lela Lyon, Collin Smith, and Aleah Combs, thank you for being my sisters and for always being there for me through it all. To mom, Chris, grandma, and all of my amazing cousins and aunts, thank you for showing me the power that is woman and for helping me become the person I am today. I owe you so much and I don't know how I will ever repay you. I'd like to thank the wonderful men who've helped me get here. To Dr. Tim Thornes, Dr. Chris VanderStouwe, and Dr. Mark Lauersdorf, thank you for showing me that there is still so much to learn, and for being a place where I knew I could turn iv for help. To Kyler Laycock and Gerald Bankes, thank you for being my brothers, for your friendship, and for always providing a place I felt like I was coming home to. To papa, thank you for your humor, your love, and for always being proud of everything I've accomplished.